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The ideology of both organizations of AVALANCHE derives from the Cosmo Canyon-based teachings of Planet Life, arguing that the Planet is a living organism with all living creatures being part of it. They believe Shinra's actions are harmful and that continued harvest of Mako energy will destroy the world, and that all life on the Planet is derived from the Lifestream. By sucking it out, the Planet is being eaten away until the world will be incapable of sustaining life. To this end, they believe Shinra must be stopped by force.

Being unable to confront the Shinra Army directly, the first incarnation of AVALANCHE fights an asymmetric war where their main opponent is the Turks, Shinra's intelligence agency that engages in reconnaissance and espionage, or even black ops, including kidnappings and assassinations, on behalf of the corporation. AVALANCHE's main tactic is to take out specific targets (such as the Mt. Corel reactor) in hit-and-run actions, and have no ambitions of capturing territory. The first incarnation of AVALANCHE shuns no means of achieving their goals, eventually seeking a total genocide of mankind for environmental reasons, leading causing civilian losses becoming a strategy in itself for this sake.

The second AVALANCHE is far less ruthless, and sees civilian casualties as an inevitable yet unfortunate consequence of their struggle, and its members usually explain it away when confronted by this dilemma. The second incarnation of AVALANCHE fights Shinra by the means of staging terrorist attacks against the company's Mako Reactors in the city of Midgar by forging ID cards to board the trains that stop at the reactors, then infiltrating the facility and setting a bomb near the core. Anti-Shinra graffiti on the streets of Midgar attributed to AVALANCHE might be the organization's propagandizing to garner public support for their actions.

AVALANCHE was founded in Cosmo Canyon by a man who learned of the Study of Planet Life and realized the harm Shinra Company's Mako Reactors would have on the Planet. The movement became to be led by Elfé with support from a scientist named Fuhito.

AVALANCHE confronts the Shinra army and the Turks all across the world, but are unable to gain decisive victory. Eventually, AVALANCHE's support figures and leaders depart the organization for various reasons, leaving only Fuhito. Under his command, the group disintegrates from within and in a last ditch effort, Fuhito summons Zirconiade, an ultimate summon monster to eradicate all life on the Planet, but is killed in battle by the Turks, and what remains of this AVALANCHE group collapses.

Barret Wallace met a former member of AVALANCHE in Cosmo Canyon and learned of the movement's goals before Fuhito took it over. Barret is inspired to form a second incarnation of AVALANCHE to stop the use of Mako energy and help the people of the Midgar slums. The second AVALANCHE has only a handful of members, and is less ruthless than the first AVALANCHE.

After the group bombs the Sector 1 and Sector 5 Reactors, Shinra launches an assault on the pillar supporting the plate above Sector 7 slums, destroying all of Sector 7 to wipe out the organization and put the blame on AVALANCHE for the attack. The surviving members continue to fight Shinra to save the Planet, and the movement can be said to live on in Cloud Strife's party, although the group is rarely referred to as "AVALANCHE" following the events of Midgar. When visiting Cosmo Canyon, Barret proclaims the rebirth of AVALANCHE, which from now on focuses on stopping Sephiroth, a rogue former SOLDIER member who wants revenge on the world, rather than fighting the Shinra. They try to keep the Shinra from getting the Huge Materias, colossal Materia pieces that crystallize at the reactor cores, causing them to clash with the corporation at Mt. Corel and Fort Condor. When the Weapons, ancient creatures created by the Planet itself as its guardians, awake, AVALANCHE is forced to deal with them as well.

AVALANCHE presumably disbands after Sephiroth has been felled, Shinra Company has fallen apart and Midgar has been ravaged in the Meteorfall. Its former members are forced to deal with the Remnants of Sephiroth, a trio consisting of the physical manifestations of Sephiroth whose influence remains in the Lifestream, who try to enable his physical resurrection into the world. They are also heavily involved in the Battle of Midgar alongside the World Regenesis Organization, an organization working to protect the Planet and doing their best to keep what Cloud and the others worked so hard to bring.

In Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-, three types of AVALANCHE soldiers are fought: the AVALANCHE (Gun), AVALANCHE (Grapple) and AVALANCHE (Magic). The Ravens are a squad of genetically engineered super soldiers created under the supervision of Fuhito, but even if they are part of AVALANCHE, they are little more than zombies to Fuhito's will.

[view·edit·purge]An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a sloping surface. Avalanches are typically triggered in a starting zone from a mechanical failure in the snowpack when the forces on the snow exceed its strength but sometimes only with gradually widening.

In Cosmo Canyon Barret mentions he had promised the AVALANCHE members working under him, Jessie, Biggs and Wedge, they would go there to celebrate one day. The original script for Final Fantasy VII included a scene where Barret and the other members of AVALANCHE would talk about going to Cosmo Canyon, but this scene was cut from the game's final version.

AVALANCHE symbol of skull and bones resembles the pirate flag Jolly Rogers. Although the traditional skull and crossbones pirate flag prevalent in popular culture is usually depicted as black, many historians agree the original pirate flag was red: red flags were common in naval warfare to signal that no quarter would be given. The red flag was called Joli Rouge (pretty red) by the French, and may have been corrupted into English as Jolly Roger.

Though the timeline of Before Crisis overlaps with that of Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-, AVALANCHE receives only a single mention in the other spin-off, in Mission 1-4-3 when they steal a shipment of experimental new Shinra weapons.